No Security in Comfort
by SabaceanBabe
Summary: ...her privacy curtains had already been pulled across, shutting him out he had assumed that she was in there alone...


**No Security in Comfort**

Spoilers: maybe for Scar

Disclaimer: Not my characters or 'verse, although I'd like them to be. No money being made.

Author's note: Written for ancarett. Happy belated birthday and I hope you enjoy! And thank you so much to ysrith for the beta.

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Lee pushed open the hatch into his shared quarters and was surprised by the sight of Helo, who appeared to be leaving Kara's rack. When Lee'd returned late the night before – or rather, early this morning – to get some sleep, her privacy curtains had already been pulled across, shutting him out. He had assumed that she was in there alone…

"Go back to sleep, Kara," Helo told her, his voice gravelly. "You're in no shape to fly CAP this morning." Her reply was low and muffled by the curtain Helo drew back into place, but whatever she said made the man laugh as he turned to grab his trousers and boots. He went very still when he realized he and Kara were no longer alone. "Captain."

Eyes focused on the socks that were just visible, stuffed into a boot, Lee couldn't quite wrap his brain around the idea that Helo had taken the time to organize his things as he and Kara had stripped. He forced himself to walk the rest of the way into the room and over to his locker. "Everything alright, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing happened, Apollo."

A wave of jealousy shot through him, quickly suppressed. Kara wasn't his and never had been. Never would be, if last night was any indication… Lee turned and leaned back against his locker, deliberately looked the other man up and down as he stood next to Kara's rack, half-dressed. One brow raised, Lee turned back to his locker, opened the door and pulled out a clean shirt. "You're both adults and you're not in her direct chain of command."

"Apollo." Helo kept his voice low, trying not to disturb Kara. The other racks were all empty, their occupants gone to the head or the showers to prepare for their duty rotation. Lee continued to pull clean clothes from his locker and tried to ignore the scrape of a bench over the metal floor and the flop and swish of fabric, tried to ignore the existence of the man who had spent the night in Kara's bed after she had pushed Lee away.

When the faint sounds from behind him stopped, Lee shifted enough to glance over his shoulder toward where Helo again stood, this time fully dressed save for the boots gripped in his left hand. Now that Lee's attention was back on him, Helo spoke. "Nothing happened, Lee. She was drunk; I put her to bed. That's all."

"What you two do when you're off duty—"

Helo cut him off. "You're not listening. We didn't frak. She was drunk and she was a mess and she asked me to stay." The man's eyes were intense as he broke off to glance back at the closed curtains before taking a step toward Lee and gesturing with his free hand toward the corridor.

Lee shrugged and stepped outside. Helo followed. As soon as they were both out, Lee turned. "She asked you to stay?"

A half smile stretched the other man's lips. "Okay, demanded." He leaned his shoulders against the wall, boots still dangling from the fingers of one hand. "Kara and I have been friends for a long time. We're comfortable with each other."

Lee looked away from Helo, then, looked toward the still-open hatch. Comfortable. There were times he felt comfortable with Kara, but they always faded into… something else. Something decidedly _not_ comfortable. Looking back at Helo, he wondered if Helo felt _comfortable_ with his Cylon girlfriend.

"So she wanted you to stay to keep her _comfortable_?"

Helo laughed. "Something like that." Still smirking, he pushed off from the wall. "More like a security blanket." He looked at Lee again and the smirk faded away, leaving in its wake an expression that said he understood what Lee was thinking, feeling. "Either way… She doesn't want me, Lee." He shook his head. "I'm not sure she knows who or what she wants, but it's not me. If you'll excuse me, Captain, I'm gonna check in on Sharon before my shift."

Lee watched him walk away. When Helo disappeared around a corner, Lee returned to his locker. He dressed in silence, careful not to disturb the woman who slept across from where he stood, unable to stop his eyes from straying toward that closed curtain.


End file.
